References Required
by Wilusa
Summary: What is our never-named hero going to do now? One fan's quick guess at what he'll do...and how someone else will react.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: _Banshee_ is the property of Cinemax and the show's producers; no copyright infringement is intended.

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"This letter looks like it may be important, sir."

Sheriff Brock Lotus suppressed a sigh. He'd long since given up hope of getting his Chief Deputy to stop calling him "sir."

 _He forgets it when we're in crisis situations. Guess I should just be thankful we're not in one now._

"What's special about it, Bunker? Other than the fact that the Sheriff's Department hardly ever gets letters of any kind?"

Kurt Bunker was frowning. "It's from a place I never heard of, in New York State. So probably a small town. But the return address says it's from the Mayor. He sent it Priority Mail. And addressed to _you_ , by name. So unless he actually knows you, he went to the bother of looking up the name of the Sheriff of Banshee County."

"Huh. That is interesting," Lotus admitted. "I'm sure I don't know anyone who could be Mayor of a town in New York."

He took the envelope and opened it - noting, with some amusement, that while Bunker was very deliberately _not_ looking at it, he wasn't walking away, either.

But after he'd skimmed the first few lines, he quickly folded the page and said, "Uh, Kurt - I think you have other work to attend to."

"Of course, sir."

Bunker _hadn't_ suppressed _his_ sigh.

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After introducing himself, Mayor Gary Sloane had gone on to explain that his town, like Banshee, was a county seat. Their Sheriff had been forced to resign - because he was corrupt, facing felony charges - and Sloane was responsible for hiring a new Acting Sheriff, to serve till the next election. He wanted an outsider, because several locals he might have considered had been caught up in the corruption scandal.

And he'd interviewed an applicant who seemed ideally qualified for the job. A former Sheriff of _Banshee_ County: Lucas Hood.

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Lotus was stunned.

 _My God. He's doing it again? Pulling the same stunt, even using the same alias?_

He heard himself - midway between rage and hysteria - ranting, _"I was Deputy to a_ _criminal?"_

He'd taken for granted that whatever his former boss was doing now, he'd be doing it thousands of miles away from Banshee. And using a different identity - perhaps even his _real_ identity.

 _I never even learned whether he'd caused the death of the real Lucas Hood! If he had, of course he wouldn't have told me._

 _Even if he hadn't, stealing the guy's identity required way more than taking his wallet. Big-time criminal skills._

Shaking his head, he returned to Sloane's letter.

It included a brief summary of Hood's background. The _real_ Hood's background, up to his arrival in Banshee.

 _And_ the fact that he had a glowing letter of recommendation from an FBI Special Agent, Veronica Dawson. Lotus had suspected that before they left Banshee, they'd been sleeping together.

But this was the heart of the letter:

"He told me he'd probably still be Sheriff of Banshee County, if not for a tragic experience. He actually witnessed, but couldn't prevent, the murder of one of his deputies, Siobhan Kelly. Who was also the woman he loved. He and you - then his Chief Deputy - trailed the killer to Louisiana. And when he resisted arrest, Sheriff Hood shot and killed him in self-defense.

"After that, Banshee held too many painful memories for him. And he also felt he needed at least a temporary break from police work. So he resigned - knowing he'd be leaving the Sheriff's Department in your very capable hands, and you'd be able to run unopposed in an election.

"He spent two years just traveling, supporting himself with odd jobs. Then he returned to Banshee - as he always intended, temporarily - because he'd learned a close friend of his had been one of the victims of a serial killer.

"Special Agent Dawson had been sent there to investigate the serial killings. And because she learned about Mr. Hood and _asked_ for his assistance (as she told me), he did assist her in determining a Satanic cult was involved, and identifying its leader. Then the Satanists abducted her, and Mr. Hood assisted you in rescuing her and apprehending the cultists (save for the leader, whom Agent Dawson shot and killed in self-defense).

"After all that, Mr. Hood tells me, he realized he _was_ ready, willing, and able to take on the job of Sheriff again. But not in Banshee! Partly because of the still-painful memories - but also because you, a native and lifelong resident, are doing a superb job.

"I would have hired him on the spot, without consulting you, except for one thing that worries me. I asked him whether he'd gotten any actual grief counseling after Deputy Kelly's death, and he admitted he hadn't. So I'm asking you: do _you_ think he's stable? The right man for the job?"


	2. Chapter 2

_"The right man for the job?"_

Lotus couldn't believe this was happening.

 _It's sheer insanity!_

 _And damn it, I never found out his real name. So I can't check exactly how bad his record was. But I know it was bad enough to get him fifteen years in the pen!_

 _He told me he was a thief - but not an ordinary thief. An "infiltration" specialist who could break into places that were supposed to be theft-proof, steal valuables no one else could._

 _Definitely a career criminal. And worse yet, he was involved with the Ukrainian mob that was headed by Carrie Hopewell's father. Couldn't shake them, even after he settled in Banshee._

Lotus had come to respect Carrie Hopewell. But whenever he thought of her background, he shuddered.

 _She, Hood, and that "Job" character were partners in crime long ago. And knowing as much as I do now, I've realized they were still committing crimes when Hood was our Sheriff!_

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While he knew Hood really had been grief-stricken over Siobhan's death, it hadn't kept him from screwing Rebecca Bowman, and getting her pregnant. (He had, of course, been in the area - if not in town - before she was killed.) Or screwing Veronica Dawson.

 _And thinking of them opens a whole other can of worms..._

Dawson, with specialized FBI training in the ways of serial killers, had realized Rebecca's murder hadn't fit this killer's pattern. A Satanist, he'd been killing during new moons - _a_ _celebration of darkness_. Someone meaning to copy his m.o. wouldn't have known that.

So Dawson had told Lotus - _and Hood_ \- that Rebecca had been killed by someone else. (Lotus would always wonder whether either of them would eventually have realized that on his own.)

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Lotus hadn't learned the identity of Rebecca's killer till after the death of Kai Proctor - who'd been executed by a "firing squad" sent by kingpins in the international drug trade, when he couldn't make good on his end of a deal.

Proctor had been prepared for a fight, though he'd surely known how it would end. He'd kept shooting till his rifle was empty before he died. He'd undoubtedly done some damage: there was blood other than his in his driveway. But his enemies had taken their dead or wounded away.

When Lotus and his deputies arrived on the scene, they'd wondered why there was no sign of his lieutenant Clay Burton's ever having been there.

They'd finally found him - dead, in a ravine, near the overturned car he'd presumably been driving.

It looked like an accident. The damage to the car might have suggested a crash too minor to cause fatal injuries; but "survivable" injuries can kill someone, if he bleeds to death.

The coroner, however, had determined that "cause of death" was a broken neck - sustained _after_ Burton had been so severely _beaten_ that he would have died anyway. He'd ruled the death a homicide.

There'd been blood at the scene. More of Burton's than of anyone else's. But there'd been small amounts of Proctor's blood in the car, and on Burton's clothing. Telling Lotus he'd been there - and never reported it to the police.

There was significantly _more_ of another person's blood - not in the car, but on Burton's face, other exposed parts of his body, and his clothing. Most of all, on his _fists._

 _That_ blood was _Hood's_.

By the time Lotus learned that, it had been determined - conclusively - that _Burton_ had killed Rebecca Bowman. He'd also killed Deputy Nina Cruz - Proctor's "mole" in the Sheriff's Department - because her reports to Proctor, through him, had included details of the serial killer's m.o. that were being kept from the general public. She couldn't have accused either of them without incriminating herself; but Burton was nothing if not thorough.

As Lotus saw it, he'd been jealous - resentful of Proctor's growing closer to his niece Rebecca than to _him_. Though he never would have admitted that, even to himself; he'd convinced himself she was a bad influence on the man he idolized.

Hood - who'd learned Burton was the killer before Lotus did - had already left town.

 _I know Burton was a monster. Even so, the law should have assured him a fair trial. Hood almost certainly murdered him._

 _But...am I sure what I would have done?_

 _What I would have done if a woman he tortured and killed had been carrying my child?_


	3. Chapter 3

Alone in his office, Lotus sat for an hour, staring at his blank computer screen.

He understood why Sloane had sent a letter, when he could have just picked up the phone.

 _He wanted me to give it some thought, not say the first thing that popped into my head._

Sloane hadn't known Lotus's private e-mail address. But he could have included his...and he hadn't.

 _Okay, he wanted me to give it a lot of thought._

But Lotus had really known all along what he was going to tell Gary Sloane...in spite of everything else he knew or suspected. What he _had to_ tell him.

And he wouldn't use the phone, either - because he wanted Sloane to have a permanent record of his response.

So when he finally began typing the letter he'd print and mail, the actual words came easily.

"Dear Mayor Sloane,

"I'm very glad you contacted me - because you haven't been told the whole truth about Lucas Hood. You need to know what only I can tell you.

"Hood didn't assist me in taking down those Satanists.

"Here's what really happened. They'd caught us by surprise, knocked both of us out.

"When we came to - and some drugs they'd used on us wore off - we found ourselves in a basement that was more like a _dungeon_. Handcuffed, with steel cuffs, behind our backs. The cuffs were chained to the walls, keeping us far enough apart that neither of us could provide any help to the other.

"Our captors told us they were going to kill us - but that would be at the climax of their ritual, after they'd forced us to watch them kill Agent Dawson. Then they went upstairs; but our situation seemed hopeless.

"At least, it seemed that way to me. _I gave up_. Completely! I accepted that we were going to die, didn't even try to free myself.

" _Hood_ absolutely _refused_ to give up. He kept struggling, even when I was calling him a fool for denying the inevitable.

"One of the Satanists came back down - their doctor, who performed all kinds of weird cosmetic surgery on them. Like giving their leader 'horns.' He was planning to somehow mutilate _us_ , so we'd be acceptable offerings to Satan.

"When he came at me, I kicked him. That wasn't part of any 'plan' - just a desperate attempt to defend myself. Instinct or reflex, without conscious thought. It should have made him furious. But he stumbled backward and fell, closer to Hood.

"And Hood, unable to use his arms, got his _legs_ around the guy's neck! God knows how he did it. Disabled the doctor, then wriggled into a position where he could snag his _keys_ \- with his hands, behind his back - and unlock his own cuffs. Then he freed me.

"At that point, I did what anyone with half a brain would have done. Told him that when we went upstairs, he should take the lead.

"So _I_ was the one assisting _him_ in taking down the Satanists. But he probably could have done it alone.

"Yes, he _is_ the right man for the job you need to fill! And...I don't know what your county pays its Sheriff. But I hope you'll pay Hood more than he was getting in Banshee. A lot more.

"He's worth it."

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The End


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